Mass Effect: First Strike
by Vault08
Summary: *Post Arrival* After one of Shepard's former squad goes missing, Anderson contacts him and informs him. Shepard decides to set out on a recon mission to rescue an old friend, and in the process, learns of a great threat to humanity. *Arrival DLC spoilers*
1. A Friend In Need

Shepard yawned as he wondered down the hall, just exiting the men's bathroom. A refreshing shower had woken him up, but he still felt tired, even though it had been a week since he'd prevented the reapers from arriving. Though he knew he'd only postponed the inevitable, and it would likely happen sooner, rather than later. Still, he preferred to remain optimistic.

"Shepard." Miranda said, passing him. He nodded to her in response, making his way toward the bridge area of the ship.

Greeted by the familiar site of the galaxy map as he rounded the corner, Shepard stretched his arm behind him, before a familiar voice greeted him.

"Look who's up early." Joker said over the intercom. Shepard shook his head.

Only a few of the Normandy's crew was up, most still sleeping. Kelly Chambers, Joker, Miranda, and a few servicemen were the only ones Shepard could see that were up.

"We got a message from Anderson on the Citadel, commander. It's personal, take the vid call when you get a second." Joker said, his tone shifting from playful to serious.

"Thanks." Shepard said, before turning and heading toward the Captain's Cabin.

In the Captain's Cabin, Shepard moved to his private terminal and accepted the video call. Anderson's face was projected on a large holo-screen, and Shepard moved back a few steps to get the full view.

"Shepard, this is serious. We've got a situation, and you're the only one I'd trust with someone like this." He said, his tone and emotion present on his face hinted at a dire situation.

"I'm listening, Anderson." Shepard replied, attention at its fullest. Anderson was one of the few people Shepard had faith in these days, despite their rocky relationship with Shepard doing missions for Cerberus.

"Commander Kaidan Alenko was on a recon mission on Therum, looking for an Alliance Scientist who'd gone missing doing field tests. That was five days ago, and we've no word from Alenko. This is serious, Shepard. Alenko is one of our best, and we need to get him back, but Alliance won't risk anyone else going straight into the fire. Kaidan's an old friend of yours, as am I. Could you investigate this for me? If for nothing else, than as a personal favor?" Anderson asked. Though his words were structured in a similar manner to most requests Shepard got, there was no desperation in his voice.

Shepard didn't need to hear any more than the first sentence, though.

"Anderson, I trust Alenko and you more than anyone at Cerberus, even the ones on my team. We'll go right now. Is there anything else I should know?"

Anderson shifted his position.

"I'll upload the area to your coordinates where Alenko last reported, though he could be anywhere. But be careful, Shepard. Hackett told me about what happened, if this has anything to do with the Reapers, don't be a hero. We'll need you, Shepard. Anderson out."

Shepard shook his head. Being a hero was what he was best at.

"Joker, set a course for Therum, use Anderson's coordinates and bring us in nice and quiet, I think it's time to rescue an old friend."

"Aye-aye Commander, ETA 3 hours."


	2. First Strike

Shepard and his team of 3 exited the Normandy, glancing around the ground level of Therum. Shepard had opted to bring 3 teammates, in case things got heated. Who knows what they would find? As such, Shepard brought Garrus along, who was reliable, one hell of a shot, and above all, was with Shepard when they took down Saren, so Garrus knew Kaidan. Thane would come in handy if they found Alenko was being kept hostage and they needed intel. Finally, Miranda came along because her biotic powers could come in handy, along with craving some action.

It didn't take Shepard long, before he remembered everything about Therum, namely the heat. Sweating already, they ventured toward Alenko's last known position. This was on the other side of the planet, so Shepard didn't recognize any landmarks, or see anywhere familiar, like where they rescued Liara.

"There! Someone's coming...Salarian!" Garrus shouted, looking down the scope of his rifle. Everyone turned and brought up their weapons, but as he got closer, it became evident he wasn't armed. Lowering his weapon, Shepard glanced over the salarian as he got within talking distance. He was out of breath and panting heavily, and his uniform was torn, and he had what seemed to be a bullet wound in his shoulder.

"I...please...you gotta help me!" He pleaded through pants, trying to catch his breath.

"Tell me what's going on. Who are you? Do you know Systems Alliance Commander Kaidan Alenko?" Shepard asked.

"No...please...they tried to kill me! A base, that way, maybe half a mile..." The Salarian said, turning and pointing in the direction Shepard was heading.

Garrus raised his sniper rifle and glanced through the scope momentarily, before lowering it. "He's right. There's some sort of...makeshift base there. A barracks, maybe."

"Barracks? This is Alliance territory, and they haven't set up any barracks here." Miranda chimed in.

"How do you know?" Thane questioned.

"I have my ways." Miranda retorted in an arrogant tone.

"Not Alliance...worse...please! They had a human soldier, though...but.. I...I..." The salarian began coughing hysterically, before collapsing on the ground.

Shepard kneeled, and pressed two fingers to the salarian's neck, but shook his head. "He's gone. My guess would be exhaustion or dehydration, the bullet wound doesn't look too bad."

"Who knows what's inside that base?" Miranda asked in an iffy tone. "Should we risk it?"

"He said a human soldier. That has to be Kaidan." Garrus replied, moving forward.

"We'll check the place out." Shepard said, closing the salarian's eyes and moving to the front of the team.

As Shepard and the team reached the entrance to the makeshift base, they took in the surrounding area, as well as the base itself. The whole place was constructed of out boxes, basic building material, and scattered debris, giving the impression that whoever built it had no idea what the hell they were doing.

The heated ground of Therum's surface felt tough and hardened beneath the team's boots, and the atmosphere was filled with intense heat, and anticipation.

"Careful...stay on your toes." Garrus said as they walked in, glancing around. "Could be an ambush."

As they moved toward the center of the base, it became more and more apparent that whoever was here was long gone, or at least, that was the impression the team got.

"That salarian was probably delirious. This place is empty." Miranda said, lowering her pistol.

"Look, there." Thane said, pointing to an entrance that seemed to lead underground. It was poorly covered up with some scrap metal.

"Well, we need to-" Miranda started, but a single sniper shot rang out, and blood splattered onto the team as Miranda fell to the ground.

"Ambush!" Garrus shouted, diving for cover as several batarians emerged from extremely well-hidden hiding areas, surrounding the team and opening fire.

"Shit!" Shepard shouted as he dove for cover, dragging Miranda's body with him. She cried out in pain from the wound.

Garrus popped out from cover and took a shot, blowing a hole clean through a batarian sniper's head, and slinging blood across one of the small building's walls.

Thane had disappeared into one of the buildings and managed to work his way toward the back of the base. As he emerged from cover, he shot one of the three batarians in front of him twice in the chest with his pistol, before using throw on the remaining two. He skillfully slid under the falling body of the first batarian, and proceeded to shoot the remaining two in the head with pinpoint, deadly accuracy.

Shepard popped out from cover and provided support fire, but was worried about Miranda – she'd taken a bad shot to the upper chest area and was bleeding profusely. Medi-gel was hardly helping, and she seemed to be turning pale fast

"Stay with me, Miranda!" Shepard shouted, before rising above cover and managing to kill a charging batarian, sending him crashing to the ground into the hot dirt.

"Aah!" Garrus shouted as a batarian soldier flanked his position. Turning, Garrus slammed the end of his rifle into the baratian's face, before kicking him in the shin and pulling out his pistol, shooting the batarian directly in the face and sending blood flying all over his uniform. Garrus, who was now exposed, had all fire concentrated on him. He darted quickly, sniper rifle in one hand and pistol in the other, toward a nearby, unoccupied building. As he did so, he was shot several times and dived in, avoiding a sniper's shot.

"Damn...shields are down!" Garrus shouted.

"Reign down on them!" A batartian shouted, who seemed to be the commander. He stood on top of one of the buildings that had good cover, and a good view of the base. He wielded a sniper rifle, and had a shotgun on his back. "Show the humans we will not take kindly to their annihilation of our kind!"

Shepard was in a frenzy, but was trying to keep his cool. The mission was going to hell, though. His team was split up, Miranda was severely injured, and they were vastly outnumbered, with the batarian forces closing in quickly.

Suddenly, an idea, albeit a desperate one, popped into his head.

"Normandy!" Shepard shouted into his earpiece. "Joker, fire the Thanix Cannon on my current position! No buts, mister, just do it!"

"Retreat" Shepard shouted, but the Normandy was already fast approaching. Shepard wrapped one arm around Miranda and darted for the entrance as fast as he could, and they just passed through it when the Thanix Canon was shot down onto the base, collapsing buildings and blowing up any fuel tanks the batarians had left out.

As the explosions went off, the last thing Shepard remembered was jumping as a piece of debris headed straight for him.


	3. Wasting Away

Kaidan Alenko was tired, in pain, hungry, dirty, and confined. He sat in a cell in some sort of underground containment area, but it felt like a prison. It was makeshift, though, but maybe the batarians wanted a prison. Hell if he knew.

He'd been on a mission to recover a kidnapped scientist, but when he entered the base he discovered her already dead, and the batarians shot and disabled Kaidan, before healing him and making their intentions clear: war with humanity. Claims of his old Commander blowing up a colony seemed far-fetched at first, but soon became a possibility when the mention of reapers came up.

Kaidan knew Shepard would do what had to be done. If killing a batarian colony weakened the reapers, or delayed them, he could see the justification in that, even if it wasn't something he personally would do. That is, of course, if Shepard had a choice.

Recalling the last time the two had even talked, Kaidan regretted greeting his former Commander with hostility and being so quick to reject his mission and the reasons behind Shepard working with Cerberus. But it slowly began to make sense, and Alenko could see where his disdain for Cerberus interfered with understanding Shepard's true intentions.

After sitting on this cell for several days, with an occasional interrogation or beating, Alenko had all but given up hope. He had some bruises and cut marks, and had a nice beard growing in, from being unable to shave or clean himself. He'd only attempted to escape once, and it failed after he'd tried to take out a guard. Now, he sat in a cell with nothing to do, waiting for his next minimal meal, or to be kicked around like a dog.

He thought he heard distant gunfire, but he just assumed it was either nothing important, or his mind offering false hope. When a large explosion shook the ground above him, however, Kaidan decided something is going on, and if he can seize the opportunity to escape, he will. Maybe the Alliance had sent someone to rescue him!

After a moment of silence, the batarian commander that had personally administered most of Kaidan's beatings and interrogations came marching down the hall, with 2 of his best guards. He opened the cage, and his two captains grabbed Kaidan by the arms, forcing him down the hall toward the interrogation room.

"Hey!" Kaidan shouted, struggling against the grip of the batarian captains, but it was to no avail. "Let me go, you crazy bastards!" He shouted flailing about wildly, trying to somehow escape with what little energy he had left.

They carried him to the interrogation room, and strapped him into the chair he'd been in twice before. The batarian commander slammed the end of the rifle into Kaidan's stomach, causing the wind to be knocked out of him.

"Now listen here, scum, " the batarian started, "shut your mouth, and you just might make it out of this alive."

The captain left the interrogation room, leaving Kaidan alone, with desperate thoughts that whoever was attacking the base delivered a shot right into the batarian Commander's head.


	4. Questioning Trust

Slowly coming to, Shepard felt immense pain in his side. Someone was dragging him through the broken ground of Therum, where the Normandy's Thanix Cannon had ripped through the buildings and caused several explosions, leaving the ground a charred black, and a few small fires still remained.

Attempting to move, Shepard cried out in pain. He felt himself stop being moved, and one of the people dragging him smirked.

"Don't worry. It'll all be over soon. After we gouge out your eyes, break your fingers, and make you pay for what you did to the batarians."

Suddenly, a sniper shot rang out, and Shepard heard something drop near him, but he slowly lost consciousness again, for about a minute.

This time, Shepard awoke to the face of Garrus, who slowly helped him up. His face and armor was coated with Therum's heated dirt, and a few scrapes were present on his face. His armor had a few dents in it, and his neck was sore, but nothing serious was injured or broken.

"Here." Garrus said, pulling out a medi-gel and applying it to the tears and holes in Shepard's suit where his main wounds are. Slowly, he got up and got his first real look at the damage the Normandy had done. Bodies lay all around, mostly batarians, scorched by the fire, or killed from the collapsing buildings.

"Jesus, what did I do..." Shepard said, sighing.

"It was the only thing you could do. And damned effective." Garrus said, attempting to reassure his Commander.

Garrus didn't seem too badly injured. The left side of his armor had a few large dents, likely from debris, but otherwise, he was free of any damage.

Shepard's eyes widened when he saw the body of Miranda, laying in a small hole. He rushed over to her, and fell to his knees as he checked for any signs of life, a pulse, breath. Anything.

But there was none.

Her body had been slung from Shepard during one of the explosions, and she'd likely died of blood loss or exhaustion.

Shepard slowly lowered his head and sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. Then, suddenly he slammed his fist into the ground in anger that he'd let one of his team die.

"Damn it!" He shouted.

The worst part was, he was doing this for the Alliance. The Illusive Man had no idea his best was just killed on a mission.

"Cerberus is going to want answers..." Shepard said.

Garrus kneeled. "We're here for Alenko, and the Alliance. Come on, Shepard, We have a mission to finish."

Shepard nodded, and turned to see Thane limping toward them. His jacket was pretty beat up, with the right sleeve completely torn off, and he had a few deep gashes on his chest. He was clutching his hand, and as he got close enough, he revealed his wounds to them: His two little fingers on his left hand were cut clean off, and a sharp piece of debris had impaled his leg, but he'd managed to pry it out.

"Where were you? You just disappeared!" Shepard shouted, clearly angry and upset.

"Doing what I do best. I got to the other side and wiped out their forces on the far side of the base. You would've been swarmed and killed a lot sooner, had I not gone." Thane replied, applying medi-gel to his hand and leg, giving a small whimper as he did so.

"We have to move on." Shepard said, grabbing his assault rifle from the ground and leading his team toward the underground entrance. Everyone was tired, hot, and angry, but Shepard was feeling remorse, guilt, and overwhelmed. Not only were the Reapers coming, but he'd lost one of his best squad members. He managed to keep himself together, for now. They had to find Alenko. He was here, somewhere.

As they slowly ventured into the underground cavern-like area, they noticed hallways had been created, and transformed into something resembling a very crude makeshift prison. A few computer terminals were set up, but what resembled cell were lining the halls, and clearly were in the finishing stages of being prepared.

"My god..." Shepard said, looking at the cells. "This whole mission was a set up. The batarians are creating a prison here, on one of the alliance's own worlds! They're starting to take prisoners! Alenko was the first! We were next!" He said, turning to his team.

"Glad we got here when we did. We can stop this." Garrus said, cocking his sniper rifle.

"This one, yes. But the batarians are dangerous, tactical, and unpredictable. Who knows what other System's Alliance planets they are invading? Taking prisoners on?" Thane questioned.

"But why here? This is a remote world, there's hardly any life, or humans here." Garrus asked, clearly confused by the batarian's methods.

"That is precisely why they chose this one, and why Alenko was taken prisoner here first." Thane responded, analyzing and figuring out the batarian's plans. "If things went sour here, not only is there nobody here to stop the batarians, but they knew the alliance would send others to rescue any prisoners." Thane said, shaking his head. "It is a crude method of practice, but an effective one."

Suddenly, two batarian captains appeared at the end of the hall. Shepard quickly dove for cover, while Garrus brought up his sniper rifle and aimed down the sight, quickly firing off a shot that hit one of the captains in the chest, but his armor was tougher than it looked.

"Damn!" Garrus shouted as they opened fire, taking cover just in the nick of time.

Thane quickly used throw, sending one of the guards flying backwards through a large piece of glass at the end of the hallway, before bringing up his pistol. The other captain fired first, and brought Thane's shields down, forcing the Drell to seek cover inside one of the cells.

Shepard popped out and sprayed the captain with assault rifle fire, though it did little than absorb into his shields.

"We need bigger firepower!" Garrus shouted.

Shepard was already one step ahead. He turned and sent a grenade flying directly into the captain's chest, exploding on impact and blowing the captain sky high, his blood now staining the walls.

Shepard moved out of cover and led his team down the hall. The other batarian that had went through the glass now lay at the bottom of a very long fall, dead.

"That takes care of that." Thane said, holstering his pistol.

"C'mon." Shepard said, moving down the only hallway they could find.

As they rounded the last corner, they entered what appeared to be an interrogation room, though it was only half-finished. What was inside the room, however, caused them all to aim their weapons.

The batarian captain stood with the end of a sniper rifle pressed against Kaidan Alenko's head, who was strapped into a chair and could hardly move. His eyes widened as Shepard and his team entered the room, a hint of hope in what he had thought would be his final hours.

"Shepard." The batarian captain said. "You and your team have destroyed my base! But little do you know...you have done nothing but justify our accusations, and reasons for starting this war!" The captain said, keeping his finger on the trigger.

"Listen to me," Shepard started, "the reapers are coming, and we need to unite as a galaxy to stop them, now is not the time to be starting wars!" Shepard shouted, keeping his pistol carefully trained on the captain.

"You killed one of our colonies! You are a murderer and you started this war!" The captain shouted, his anger and hatred palpable. Fear was growing more and more evident on Kaidan's face.

"Unless you want to see your friend's face be blown all over the wall, drop your guns!" The captain demanded, his trigger finger twitching, just aching to fire.

Shepard could sense how serious the situation was, and sighed, before throwing his pistol to the ground, and watching it slide to the batarian's feet. His teammates followed with similar actions.

"Good...now." The captain said, before kicking a button on the side of the restraining chair Alenko was in. Alenko's restrains were retracted, and he was free to move, though large red marks on his wrists made it evident how tight they were.

In one swift motion, the batarian captain picked up Shepard's pistol, and tossed it at Alenko, who caught it, before quickly resuming having his sniper rifle aimed at Alenko.

"If you kill your former Commander right now, I will call off the batarian invasion, and you will never have a problem with us again. You can lead the defense against the reapers, and we will fight side-by-side." The batarian offered.

Kaidan looked down at the pistol, and then up at Shepard, with eyes questioning what he should do.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Kaidan asked, questioning the batarian's trust.

"I have my radio right here." The batarian replied, tapping his earpiece. "I can call it off in a heartbeat, the minute Shepard drops dead."

Kaidan slowly stood up, gripping the pistol. This decision wasn't going easy on him, he was at a total loss, and had no idea what to do.

After a moment passed, he slowly raised the pistol, aiming it at his former Commander, his friend, John Shepard.

"Shepard...I'm sorry."


	5. New Enemies, Old Friends

"Shepard!" Kaidan shouted, quickly throwing the pistol at him, before turning and grabbing the barrel of the sniper rifle, messing up the batarian's aim and struggling with him for control of it.

Shepard quickly raised the pistol, but the batarian kneed Kaidan, and fired a shot as the barrel passed over Kaidan's arm. Kaidan fell to the ground with a loud cry of pain, and Shepard fired several shots into the batarian's chest, slinging blood all over the walls and not stopping until the clip was entirely empty, seeking what little redemption he could for Miranda's death.

Breathing heavily, Shepard tossed the pistol aside, and knelt by Kaidan.

"Alenko, you alright?" Shepard asked.

Kaidan sighed in pain, "Yeah, the shot just grazed me, but they beat me up pretty bad, I think I may have a cracked rib, and some broken fingers." He replied.

"We lost a good soldier, and a good person rescuing you." Shepard said, shaking his head. "But Alenko, we need you. The reapers are coming." He said, offering a hand to help Alenko up. Kaidan accepted without a second thought, getting to his feet.

"Can I count on you to help me against the reapers?" questioned Shepard.

"Without a doubt, Commander. Frontlines or recon, Alliance or Cerberus, I trust you, and I stand with you." He replied, saluting Shepard.

"Let's get back to the Citadel. The council, and Anderson, need to hear what happened here, and need to see you alive."

After returning to the Citadel, Shepard presented Commander Kaidan Alenko alive, and was awarded with a medal. Anderson was thrilled to see Shepard succeeded, but the council was disappointed to say the least, to hear that the Batarians were going to war with humanity.

As they exited the Citadel Tower, and traveled through C-Sec Academies, Alenko and Shepard shook their heads.

"Well, you're good-to-go with a new medal, and I get an icepack and some bandages for my ribs. Is there something ironic that I'm missing here, or have I just spent too much time being held prisoner by batarians?" Alenko asked in a joking manner.

"Ha," Shepard replied. "Alright Alenko, let me ask you this." He said as they stopped to admire the view of the Citadel from a large window, much like the first time Shepard, Ashley, and Kaidan had, the first time they ever came to the Citadel.

"Why didn't you kill me? That batarian probably would've called off the war." Shepard asked in a serious tone.

"I was going to. But I knew Garrus would've kicked my ass." Alenko replied, smirking.

"No, seriously?" Shepard asked, shaking Alenko's sarcastic reply off.

"Can't change the past, Shepard. I did what I did because I trusted you, and you know the bigger threat. The batarian may have stood with me against the reapers, but he doesn't know even close to as much as you do about them. You stopped Sovereign. You stopped the collectors. In the end, he would've just been fodder for them. You're worth more, to humanity and the galaxy. You've been a great commander, and a good friend as well." Alenko said.

Shepard turned, and nodded. "Thanks, Kaidan. So have you."

"What did I miss about the reapers? When are they arriving?" Alenko asked, switching his position.

"Nobody knows. Soon." Shepard said. "I delayed them, but probably only by a week or so."

"There room on the new Normandy for an Alliance soldier, commander?" Kaidan asked.

"Of course, Alenko. You'll need to meet the new crew...and Joker's worse than ever."

Kaidan and Shepard laughed, before heading toward the docking bay.


End file.
